Mariella Rudi

Last year’s LA Pride Festival sold out for the first time in its 48-year history, with thousands of rainbow-laden attendees flooding Santa Monica Boulevard. If we’re to glean anything from that record-breaking celebration, it’s to come prepared. What’s the deal? Are you ready to Pride, L.A.? The 2019 LA Pride Festival takes place at West Hollywood Park on June 8 (noon–1am) and 9 (noon–11pm), bookended by Friday’s new opening ceremony (8–11pm) and Sunday’s prized LA Pride Parade (11am–2pm). Activations like the Trans Galeria (a photo-op installation), Erotic City (a leather and S&M workshop) and Sizzle (an alcohol- and substance-free carnival) return to the festivities this year, peppered between the three concert stages. Once a humble street fair, LA Pride has evolved into one of the biggest events of its kind in the country, with increasingly star-studded musical acts. At this year’s fest, soulful pop star Meghan Trainor headlines on Saturday, with electro-pop trio Years & Years on Sunday. CupcakKe, Kodie Shane, Ashanti, Pabllo Vittar, Amara La Negra, Greyson Chance and DeJ Loaf round out the lineup of LGBTQ and allied performers. Though the parade is gratis to watch, the ticketed festival will cost you: $30 for a day (VIP $250) or $50 for the weekend (VIP $450). Want to join in on the fun for free? Sign up for a four-hour volunteer shift and you’ll receive a complimentary single-day ticket. What’s new in 2019? Pride revelers will get more costless access than ever, startin

Pop veteran Paula Abdul is kicking off this year’s LA Pride Festival with a free outdoor performance on Friday, June 7. The Grammy Award-winning singer joins fellow headliners Meghan Trainor, Years & Years and a growing lineup of LGBTQ and allied artists billed for the three-day festival in West Hollywood Park. Christopher Street West, the nonprofit that produces the annual LA Pride Festival & Parade, announced Abdul’s performance as part of LA Pride’s first official opening ceremony, marking the return of a free Friday night program for the first time since 2016. The ceremony, which kicks off at 6pm, will also include “welcoming remarks from a diverse mix of community and spiritual leaders and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community,” according to CSW, as well as the WeHo Vogue Ball & Drag Show and local DJ sets. Aside from scattered security checkpoints, the event will be completely open to the public and free of charge. While the opening ceremony and parade are free to watch, the ticketed festival on Saturday and Sunday costs $30 for a day (VIP $250) or $50 for the weekend (VIP $450). Wristbands are on sale now, but those who want free admission can work a four-hour volunteer shift in exchange for single-day tickets to the festival. Abdul, who wrapped her first solo tour in 25 years in December, will stage a one-hour performance of choreography-heavy songs like “Straight Up,” “Opposites Attract” and “Cold Hearted.” “Throughout the course of my career, the LGBTQ+ community has

To mark the 48th annual LA Pride, Steven Martin and Jennicet Gutiérrez sit down at the Black Cat in Silver Lake—the site of the 1967 LGBTQ protests against police mistreatment—to discuss how far the movement has come. Martin is a 28-year-old health-care advocate for the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Health Access California. Gutiérrez, 31, an undocumented immigrant and member of the Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, notably interrupted President Obama to call for an end to the detainment of LGBTQ immigrants. This is Martin and Gutiérrez’s conversation. Jennicet Gutiérrez: It’s important to note where this conversation is taking place. It was where our community was coming together to be themselves. Steven Martin: To celebrate. To kiss each other. JG: To find a safe space. The police were harassing us until the community said, “We have to do something about this abuse.” SM: I just got arrested in Congress. It was the tax fight, which undermines the entire Affordable Care Act. This was the biggest affront to my ability to access health care—and for future generations. They weren’t gonna tell my story, so I was taken away in handcuffs. JG: That echoes back to Pride. Disruption and acts of civil disobedience have been part of the movement. People put their bodies on the line. During the AIDS crisis, storming Congress… SM: Storming the 10 freeway. JG: Acting up, throwing fake blood—disruption and civil disobedience have always been key to progress. I think L.A. and Californi

Hold onto your wigs and make your way to the Los Angeles Convention Center this month for RuPaul’s DragCon. Now in its fourth year, the three-day extravaganza eleganza promises 85 of the hottest names in drag, including Drag Race darlings, pop-culture personalities and Mama Ru herself. More than 40,000 fans turned up in 2017, and this year’s iteration comes through yet again with more than 300 exhibitors, workshops galore, Q&As, lip-synch contests, drag herstory and more. Drag Race season-five contestant Detox says new girls, an expanded expo space and RuPaul’s second consecutive Emmy win (Detox squealed, “Two Emmys!”) have raised the stakes for this year’s drag- culture convention. “It’s a lot of pressure: to outdo yourself, to outdo the other booths, but to also maintain great energy,” says Detox. “It’s the world’s largest meet and greet, and that can be super taxing, but it’s so beautiful seeing all of the families and supporters come together under one huge gay roof. Plus, my family has been with me the past three years running my booth, and that means the world to me.” The trade-show—meets—runway-show wouldn’t be complete without DragCon’s infamous photo ops and sickening merchandise. Also in the mix is the Kid Zone, which last year brought coloring stations, a bounce house and Michelle Tea’s Drag Queen Story Hour. In between snatching makeup tips and snapping selfies, attendees should head to the first-ever Werk Room, an interactive installation in which fans can stomp

When it comes to playing pretend and dress-up, writer and L.A. parent Michelle Tea thinks drag queens and children operate on the same wavelength. “They’re both imaginative and playful, they’re both very funny and see the humor in the world,” says Tea, founder of Drag Queen Story Hour, a children’s reading series hosted by drag queens. “The drag queens are quick to point out the similarities between the toddlers and their normal audiences at bars—they’re either drunk or acting drunk, and they’ll talk during your performance.” Since its 2016 debut in San Francisco, Drag Queen Story Hour has expanded throughout the country and around the globe, reaching England, Brazil and China. The events here stretch across L.A.—from Pasadena and Echo Park to West Hollywood—and crop up at least once a month at a local bookstore or public library. “I think we’re really fortunate to be in a place where we’re not battling ignorance,” says Tea of the L.A. chapter. “It’s not about having to counter something negative happening in the community. It’s just about providing kids with an inspiring and imaginative kind of creature to read to them.” The program embraces progressive children’s literature and tends to focus not on gender but individuality. Tea says parents in L.A. are more likely to raise an eyebrow at the drag queens magnifying princess culture than the notion of gender confusion. And while she does introduce the concept of the drag queen beforehand, Tea describes them as fantastical her

R&B songstress Kehlani and Swedish pop star Tove Lo will take top billing during LA Pride Festival’s return to West Hollywood Park on Saturday, June 9 and Sunday, June 10. The first wave of performers announced by Christopher Street West, the non-profit organization that produces the LA Pride Festival and Parade, comes on the heels of this year’s festival theme reveal:#JustBe, a slogan of self-expression and authenticity within the LGBTQ+ community. Kehlani, an openly bisexual rising hip-hop star, is set to perform on the Park Stage on Saturday, June 9. The Grammy-nominated artist is also up for a GLAAD Media Award this year for her 2017 debut album, SweetSexySavage. Multi-platinum artist Tove Lo, who also has spoken about her bisexuality, will own the Park Stage on Sunday, June 10, before headlining at New York City Pride’s Pride Island later that month. Among her chart-topping hits is “Disco Tits,” which earned a spot on Billboard’s Best Gay Anthems of 2017. “Kehlani and Tove Lo are two of the most daring women in music today,” CSW board member Gregory Alexander said in a press release. “We’re excited to see how they’ll lead the raw and authentic voice of this year’s festival. They embody everything we mean when we say #JUSTBE at LA Pride.” The rest of the lineup of artists featured across the festival’s three stages will roll out in the coming weeks. On sale now, early-bird tickets are $20 for one-day or $30 for both Saturday and Sunday.